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Sunday, 6 August 2017

See Why Americans Lambast Donald Trump: Can This Happen In Nigeria??

Donald Trump leaves for Bedminster - EPA

Donald Trump has hit back at critics over his plans to spend 17-days at his New Jersey golf club.

Barack
Obama was repeatedly lambasted by Republicans over the amount of time
he spent swinging a golf club, having played 333 times during his two
terms. But the current president's enthusiasm for the sport seems to match that of his predecessor.

Mr
Trump's decision to abandon the White House for more than a fortnight
has led critics to question his work ethic and devotion to the job.

The president's aides have insisted that the trip is what they billed as a "working vacation".

Mr Trump entered the fray himself on Saturday evening, inevitably turning to Twitter to do so.

He told his 35 million followers that he had left the White House to allow long planned building work to be carried out.

Mr Trump added that his time at the club at Bedminster in rural New Jersey would be filled with meetings and calls.

It
is understood that one of the key tasks at the White House will be to
replace the 27-year old heating and cooling system, finishing work which
began under the previous administration.

Those
that remain in Washington will be redeployed to the Eisenhower
Executive Office Building, rather than being expected to remain in the
West Wing without air-conditioning during the city's sweltering summer.

The
South Portico steps are being renovated for the first time since 1953.
The West Wing is being redecorated and recarpeted and even the Oval
Office is being refurbished.

Mr
Trump's absence will be comparatively brief, unlike Harry Truman who
spent nearly four years living in nearby Blair House while the crumbling
official presidential residence underwent comprehensive renovation.

It
was while Mr Truman was in Blair House that two Puerto Rican
nationalists mounted an unsuccessful assassination attempt in November
1950 - killing a White House police officer.

With
an extensive personal property portfolio - including an opulent
apartment in Manhattan, an estate at Mar-a-Lago in Florida and the
Bedminster golf club, the current president is not short of alternative
accommodation.

He
also has the option of Camp David, the rustic official country retreat
in Thurmont, Maryland, just over 60 miles outside Washington.

However, in one interview Mr Trump said the winding country paths and bucolic nature of the place were not to his taste.

There have been suggestions that Mr Trump has not been overly impressed by the White House.

Golf.com claimed that he had even described the house that comes with the job as a "dump" - an accusation which he furiously denied on Twitter.